Flower, whose contract is up at the end of the tour, and Cook received the backing of England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief David Collier to retain their roles despite another miserable day which made a 5-0 series defeat highly likely.

"We need that experience," Collier told Sky TV.

"When you got through a transitional period you need somebody with knowledge, somebody who knows our system, somebody who works with all of our key coaches. Andy has all of those attributes and more.

"Alastair fully deserves our support," he added. "People do grow into the job. Captains mature, players mature. We were convinced he was the right man at the time and we're still convinced today.

"We look forward to both Alastair and Andy leading us to success in the future."

'Everyone will be trying to put things right'

There will be a rebuilding process, I think that's fair to say. I don't make those decisions, but as some of you know I have been here before many times and that will be a process I'm sure will start at some stage."

Gooch said he expected every member of the touring party to want a chance to put things right, though.

"Everyone on this tour would not like to leave under the circumstances of this tour and the debris of this tour," Gooch said.

"Four-nil down and behind the eight-ball in the fifth game is not way you want to leave and everyone will be trying to put things right and move English cricket forward."

'Harris, Johnson and Siddle have all bowled pretty well'

Gooch paid tribute to the role Australia's pace unit of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris had played in shackling proven Test batsmen like Cook, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen.

"There are three immediate reasons why they have struggled and that is Harris, Johnson and Siddle have all bowled pretty well... so Australia have been on their game and you have to give them credit," he said.

"(But) you still expect players of that calibre with that record behind them to score that proportion of runs.

"We will all have to look at ourselves, they will have to look at themselves and how they can improve and we have to look at the messages and insights we give them."